Councils appoints team to develop Cheltenham cyber park masterplan

Published by

Nicky Godding

Cheltenham Borough Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council to provide planning and development advice.

Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Borough Councils have appointed a team to prepare a masterplan for their planned cyber park.

Avison Young is leading a team including Allies and Morrison Architects and Hydrock, to prepare a strategic masterplan and a Supplementary Planning Document for a world class development at West Cheltenham to be known as Cyber Central Garden Community.

The masterplan vision is to create a vibrant pioneering community integrating hi-tech business, residential and leisure uses. It will require the highest standards of environmental sustainability integrating exemplar homes as part of a thriving campus and garden community.

A partnership with Gloucestershire County Council, and GFirst LEP, Cyber Central will aim to provide barrier-free knowledge-sharing and collaboration between industry, academia, government and the local community. Gloucestershire is already home to the UK’s most vibrant Cyber Security community: it is home to GCHQ as well as a growing network of cyber technology businesses.

The Cyber Central site comprises 132-ha and as part of the Garden Communities programme will build communities with local character, good employment opportunities and integrated and accessible transport. Homes England will be working with all the partners to deliver the project.

Jo Davis, Principal at Avison Young, said: “The opportunity presented at Cyber Central has the ability to put people and places at the forefront of growing a resilient Greater Cheltenham through an innovative and ambitious plan-led approach.”

Last year, Cheltenham Borough Council announced its £37.5m acquisition of 45-hectares of prime development land in the west of Cheltenham, marking a significant step in bringing to life the town’s Cyber Central plan.

Developed in partnership with Tewkesbury Borough Council, Gloucestershire County Council and GFirst LEP, Cyber Central will include Cheltenham’s Cyber Innovation Centre which was announced in the Government’s Spending Review in 2015. Centrally located, to the west of Cheltenham in the UK Cyber Arc, it will enable barrier-free knowledge-sharing and collaboration between industry, academia, government and the local community.

The scheme is a critical part of a larger 132-hectare plan for the west of Cheltenham, partly on previously green belt space between Junctions 10 and 11 of the M5, which will become a pioneering new garden village community, built with the natural environment and sustainability at its heart.

By purchasing the land, the council becomes a major landowner of the Cyber Central development. This gives it greater control to drive the project and achieve its ambition to become a world-leading community for cyber technology.

Cllr Andrew McKinlay, cabinet member for development and safety at Cheltenham Borough Council, said: “This project is of huge local, regional and national significance, it’s much more than just another business park. That’s why acquiring the land is seen as a critical step taken by the council in ensuring that, together with the support of our project partners, we get the very best from the development. This is a key stage in an exciting story that will unfold over the months and years to come, as we prepare for the future, become a magnet for the county and support thriving communities and flourishing businesses.”

Mike Dawson, Chief Executive Officer at Tewkesbury Borough Council, added: “This an important joint project in Cheltenham and Tewkesbury Boroughs. Together, the two councils are working closely to deliver this new and very exciting Garden Community at West Cheltenham, providing fantastic cyber business and employment opportunities and an integrated, top quality smart living space for new homes to meet the needs of our future communities.”

Alex Chalk MP for Cheltenham said: ”I have been passionate about investing in a cyber park for Cheltenham because it has the potential to generate life-changing opportunities for young people from all backgrounds in this growing, high-skill, sector. It will also help secure Cheltenham’s economic future. After £22m was pledged by central Government to back the vision, this latest investment is a really positive step forward.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.